Dispenser cutter for tacky materials

ABSTRACT

A dispenser cutter for rolled fabric materials, particularly tacky materials such as wax impregnated paper, which includes a cutting blade, guard means to shield the cutting blade in its non-operative position and a combination of roller means to direct movement of the rolled fabric material into severing engagement with the cutting blade, to free a leader of the rolled fabric material from the cutting blade and to restrain the freed leader against retraction.

O i United States Patent 1 [111 3,731,863 Nausedas 45 May 8, 1973 s41DISPENSER CUTTER FOR TACKY 2,954,910 10/1960 Moncrieff ..225/2oMATERIALS 2,890,676 6/1959 Walds'chmidt...

1,261,668 41918 W t h It 1 ..225 84X [75] Inventor; Joseph A. Nausedas,Chicago, Ill. m H a en I [73] Assignee: Union Carbide Corporation, NewPrimary Examiner-"Andrew Juhasz York NY. Assistant Examiner-Leon GildenAttorney-Maurice W. Ryan et al. [22] Filed: Dec. 20, 1971 [21] Appl.No.: 209,900 A TRACT A dispenser cutter for rolled fabric materials,particu- 52 US. Cl. .225/20 225/85 225/51 lady tacky materials Such asimpregnated 51 Int. Cl. ..B 26f 3/02 which includes a cutting bladeguard means Shield [58] Field of Search 47 84 85 the cutting blade inits non-operative position and a t combination of roller means to directmovement of the rolled fabric material into severing engagement with thecutting blade, to free a leader of the rolled [56] References Citedfabric material from the cutting blade and to restrain U T S ES PATENTSthe freed leader against retraction.

3,648,433 3/1972 Owen ..53/255 7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PMENTEW781975 SHEET 1 [1F 2 DISPENSER CUTTER FOR TACKY MATERIALS The presentinvention relates to apparatus for dispensing and cutting desiredlengths of fabric material from a roll of such material and moreparticularly to apparatus forcutably dispensing tacky fabric materialssuch as for example wax impregnated papers used in the meat packingindustry.

The food packaging industry in general and meat packing operations inparticular require the use of tacky fabric wrapping materials in thecourse of packaging operations. In the packaging and/or bagging ofprimal cuts and some retail size cuts of meat for instance wheretheouter packaging material or wrapping is frequently some form ofplastic film or the like, pieces of wax impregnated'heavy web texturedpaper are used to cover projecting bone parts and sawed ends of bonewhich tend to tearand destroy the integrity or otherwise reduce theeffectiveness of the outer wrapping material. The tacky web waximpregnated materials are known generally in the trade as bone wrap. Theproblems occasioned by the use of bone wrap materials in the meatpacking industry are many, since the meat pieces, particularly primalcuts, being packaged are not identical in size, shape and/or weight andrequire the application F the bone wrap in varying numbers of pieces andsizes to accommodate the assorted forms of bone projection, sawedboneends or whatever encountered in the course of routine packingoperations.

Meat packing involving the use of bone wrap materials is furthercomplicated in that the operations are usually performed in a lowtemperature atmosphere or cold room and the substances used toimpregnate the bone wrap, wax for instance, tend to become viscous andstiff and agglomerate on the severing edges of the cutting bladeapparatus. This of course necessitates periodic cleaning of the bonewrap dispensercutter equipment accompanied by dismantling and reassemblyof the equipment components.

The bone wrap is not suitable for precutting and stacking in the coldrooms because its tackiness makes stacked sheets stick together andbecause so many different random sizes are needed in ordinaryoperations. The cored spool or roll of bone wrap hasthus gainedacceptance in such operations, but up to time of the.

present invention no completely satisfactory dispenser cutter equipmenthas been available to industry for holding, dispensing and cutting thebone wrap at low temperature conditions.

With this then being the state of the art, the present invention wasconceived and developed having as an object the provision of a dispensercutter apparatus for rolled materials including a broad range ofmaterial characteristics.

It is another object of the invention to provide apparatus uniquelysuitable for holding, dispensing and cutting tacky fabric materials suchas wax impregnated bonewrap used in meat packing operations.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bone wrap dispensercutter apparatus easily used in low temperature atmospheres.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a bone wrapdispenser cutter which is easy to disassemble, either completely or inpart, clean of agglomerated materials and reassemble.

It is a still further and important object of this invention to providea bone wrap dispenser cutter having cutting blade guard means whichprotects against injuries while the apparatus is at rest or while it isin use.

A further object is to provide a dispenser cutter which, after a tearingoperation to yield a selected length of bone wrap, operates to positiona bone wrap grasping edge area or leader of material from the materialroll, readily reached for grasping and pulling the next selected lengthfor cutting and which operably assures against retraction of the leaderback into an inaccessible or difficult to reach position in theapparatus.

It is also an object of this invention to provide bone wrap dispensercutter apparatus which comprises a minimum of relatively simple partscooperative to produce the desired results without reliance on complexintricate components or even springs and/or operating principles andwhich functions continually and reliably with consistantly reproducibleresults over extended operating periods.

In general, apparatus according to the present invention for cuttablydispensing random length pieces of a rolled fabric product comprises incombination, a pair of plates disposed in a fixed parallel juxtaposedvertical orientation each with respect to the other separated by adistance greater than the width of the rolled fabric product; fabric.cutting blade means with a blade cutting edge facing upward mountedtransversely of the plates adjacent fore and upper edges thereof; bladeguard means mounted transversely of the plates pivotally moveablebetween a first position in which a forward upper horizontal edge ofsaid guard means is at a higher elevation than the blade cutting edgeand a second position in which said horizontal edge is at a lowerelevation than the blade cutting edge; means to maintain. said bladeguard means in its first position in the absence of application ofdownward force on the guard means; first roller means rotatably mountedtransverselyof the plates in a position towards the plate edges oppositethe fore edges thereof; rod means mounted transversely of the plateswitha longitudinal axis lying. substantially in a horizontal plane withthe longitudinal axis of the first roller means; second roller meansrotatably mounted transversely of the plates in a position between. thefirst roller means and the rod means, vertically moveable in mountingmeans on the plates between a first position in which its longitudinalaxis is below the longitudinal axes of the first roller means and therod means and a second position in which its longitudinal axis is abovethe longitudinal axes of the first roller means and the rod means; andmeans to hold fabric from a. rolled fabric product supply which ispassed between the plates over the first roller means and over the rodmeans, against an underside peripheral surface of the second rollermeans while the second roller means moves from its second positiontowards its first position.

Alternative embodiments of the invention comprehend inclusion of therotatably mounted roll of fabric product transversely of the plates,theprovisions of the counterweight and counterweight moment arm assemblyfixedly attached to the blade guard means and pivotally moveabletherewith, the provision of a roller as a substitute for the rod meansand the provision of unidirectional rotational clutch means for thefirst roller means and the roller version of the rod means which permitsrotation of these rollers only in the direction of fabric advance fromthe fabric supply roll.

The hereinabove described and other objects and embodiments of theinvention will become the more readily appreciated and understood in thelight of the ensuing detailed description and the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of apparatus according tothe invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of the apparatus embodiment of FIGS.1 and 2 taken along section line 3- -3 of FIG. 2 and FIGS. 4 through 6are schematic partial sectional views drawn as free body diagramsshowing an operational sequence of the illustrated embodiment ofapparatus according to the invention.

With reference to the drawings, particularly FIGS. 1 and 2, adispenser-cutter for tacky web materials according to the presentinvention is shown at 11 and comprises side plates 13,15 joined injuxtaposed parallel relationship by lateral assemblies 17,19 or theirequivalents and provided with mounting means such as return flanges21,23 having holes 25 to accommodate bolts 27 or the like for securelyfastening the apparatus to the selected mounting surface. Slots 29,31are provided in side plates 13,15 adjacent what will for convenience becalled the aft end of the apparatus to rotatably mount a roll of tackyweb or whatever material 33 to be dispensed and cut from a rotatablecore or spool on a shaft 35. A cutting blade 37 having serations orteeth 39 along its cutting edge is disposed laterally, parallel to thespool 35 in a blade holder 41 removably secured between the side plates,with the blade cutting edge facing upwardly adjacent the fore end of theapparatus. The blade 37 is also removable from its holder 41.

A pivotally mounted removable blade guard assembly to protect againstinjuries in operation comprises a U-shaped channel or trough 43 having atrough depth greater than the combined height of the assem bled blade 37and its holder 41, journal bosses or plates 45,47 fixedly attached atthe respective ends of trough 43 and extending rearwardly thereofparallel to and inward of the side plates, journals 49,51 pivotallymounting the assembly at plates 45,47 between the side plates, acounterweight 53 and a counterweight moment arm 55 attaching thecounterweight to the trough 43 substantially centrally thereof. In itsnormal position, that is to say with the apparatus at rest, the bladeguard assembly is disposed, as shown for instance in FIG. 3 of thedrawings, with the guard trough 43 upper edges at an elevation higherthan the cutting edge or teeth 39 of cutting blade 37, thus effectivelyshielding the cutting edge, and with the counterweight 53 in itslowermost position.

Intermediate the aft end and the fore end of the apparatus, preferablymore towards the fore end, and between the axis of rotation of the spoolof material 53 on its shaft 35 and the top edges of the side plates13,15, an aft roller 57 is mounted rotatably, parallel to the spool 35laterally of the apparatus, on a shaft or on turned down roller shaftends 59,61 disposed in holes 63,65 in side plates 13,15. Closer towardsthe ap paratus fore end and in about horizontal alignment with andparallel to aft roller 57, a fore roller 67 is similarly rotatablymounted on a shaft or on turned down roller shaft ends 69,71 disposed inholes 73,75 in the side plates.

Intermediate of and parallel to aft roller 57 and fore roller 67 adancer roller 77 is rotatably mounted on a shaft or on turned downroller shaft ends 79,81 disposed in inverted L-shaped mounting holes orslots 83,85 in side plates 13,15. Here it should be noted that theseveral roller components of the apparatus are mounted removably tofacilitate periodic cleaning. The rollers may be in the form of hollowcylinders rotating on concentric shafts or'may, as in the case of theillustrated embodiment, be machined from solid rod stock to make onepiece rollers with integral turned down shaft ends. Bearings may beprovided where necessary in particular applications and certain of therollers may selectively incorporate one-way clutch mechanisms as will bemore fully treated hereinafter. Slots 83,85 are located and formed withthe height of the vertically extending portion such that when the dancerroller 77 is in its lowermost position with its shaft ends resting atthe bottoms of the slots its underside is lower than the undersides ofaft roller 57 and fore roller 67, and when in its uppermost position itsunderside is clear of the topmost surfaces of rollers 57,67 by about oneand onehalf dancer roller diameters. The horizontally extending portionof each of the dancer roller slots is formed preferably to a lengthslightly greater than twice the diameter of the dancer roller shaft ends79,81. Slight recesses 87,89 are provided adjacent the fore end of thehorizontally extending portions of slots 83,85 in the slot lower edgesto hold the dancer roller in a raised position during material loadingand threading operations. The dancer roller 77 then can be movedvertically in the vertically extending portions of slots 83,85 and inaddition, in its uppermost position of vertical travel, can be movedhorizontally into a retained raised position with its shaft ends 79,81resting in recesses 87,89.

With all of the aforedescribed components of the apparatus at rest intheir normal positions and the machine unloaded, the dancer roller willbe in its lowermost position and its underside in brushing contact orjust out of contact With the uppermost surface of counterweight 53 or,alternatively, with an upper surface of some portion of thecounterweight moment arm 55. i

To prepare the above described embodiment of apparatus according to theinvention for operation, a cored roll of material 33 to be dispensed incut lengths is placed with the ends of its spool shaft 35 in slots 29,31with the material lead direction from the roll underside towards thefore end of the machine. Dancer roll 77 is raised and rested with itsshaft ends in recesses 87 ,89 to facilitate threading and the materialis threaded through the space between the underside of raised dancerroller 77 and the upper surfaces of aft roller 57 and fore roller 67towards the fore end of the apparatus a distance sufficient to provide acomfortable grasping edge or leader after the dancer roller drop. Dancerroller 77 is then lifted from the recesses 87,89, moved to thevertically extending portions of slots 83,85 and lowered into positionbetween the aft and fore rollers where it depresses the material 33 intocontact with its underside periphery and the upper peripheral surfacesof the aft and forerollers 57,67 as shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings.

FIGS. 3 through 6 of the drawings illustrate a typical operationalsequence of the apparatus. With reference to FIG. 3, the leader ofmaterial 33 extending from between dancer roller 77 and fore roller 67is grasped and pulled upwardly and outwardly towards the fore end of themachine with the materials underside forward of the dancer roller heldclear of contact with the apparatus components other than an initialrelatively brief contact with a portion of the peripheral surface offore roller 67 As the pulling action progresses, with its directionaltered more towards the horizontal, the tensioned material 33 raisesthe dancer roller 77 in its slots 83,85 as shown in FIG. 4. At thisstage of the operation the material underside is in contact only withthe peripheral upper surface of aft roller 57 and the material uppersurface in contact with the peripheral underside of the dancer roller77. The pulling action of course effects rotation of any rollerscontacted by the material. Specifically, at the initial pull and aft andfore rollers rotate clockwise and the dancer roller and material spoolrotate counterclockwise. When the material is pulled substantially inthe direction illustrated in FIG. 4 to a desired cutting length, pullingaction stops, but with tension maintained, and the material is directeddownward to bring its underside into bearing contact on the uppermostedge or edges of the guard trough 43 as illustrated in FIG. 5. Here itshould be noted that the leading or foremost upper edge of the guardtrough 43 may advantageously be made slightly higher than the troughtrailing or aftermost upper edge. This arrangement effects materialunderside contact with only one trough edge, eliminating the frictionalinterference of the trailing or aft trough edge on the materialunderside during the cutting operation. At the operational stageillustrated in FIG. 5, the material is taut and substantially horizontalunder the dancer roller 77, elevating the dancer roller to its uppermostworking height but not high enough to cause its shaft ends 79,81 to rollinto the horizontally extending portions of slots 83,85 andinadvertently engage the retaining recesses 87,89. As further shown inFIG. 5, the bearing action of the underside of the taut material 33 onthe upper edge of guard trough 43 pivots the blade guard assembly aboutits journals 49,51, raising the counterweight 53 and aft end ofcounterweight moment arm 55 towards the underside of dancer roller 77and the material 33 therebeneath.

As the downward movement of material 33 is continued, its underside atthe cutting blade edge comes into cutting engagement beyond the initialblade engagement illustrated in FIG. 5 and the further downwarddepression of the trough 43 leading edge pivots the counterweight andits moment arm aft end closer towards the underside of dancer roller 77and engagement of the material 33 underside therebeneath.

At this stage, with the material firmly on the cutting edge 39 of theblade 37, the cutting action is easily performed by exerting a firmdownward pull while simultaneously applying a slight twist or warp tothe material to initiate the tear into and through the material edge atone end or the other of the cutting blade.

Immediately as the severed piece of material comes free of the cuttingblade 37, ready for use, the tension in the material 33 between thesupply roll and the cutting blade abates, permitting the dancer roller77 to drop as shown in FIG. 7 to its initial or first position in theslots 83,85. During the descent of dancer roller 33 as shown in FIG. 6of the drawings, the material 33 is gripped between the underside of thedancer roller and an upper surface of the counterweight andcounterweight moment arm assembly and is pulled over aft roller 57 andpushed forward and upward against fore roller 67, both of which rotateclockwise to accommodate the movement, and the material 33 is thusadvanced forward from its supply roll.

Concurrently, the blade guard assembly is pivoted upward and at or nearthe completion of its travel the aft upper edge of the guard trough 43hits the underside of the material 33 along the aft side of cuttingblade 37 and, to the extent that it may be adhered to the blade cuttingedge, serations, teeth or whatever, frees the material to provide a newleading edge or leader thereof for nest sequential dispensing andcutting operation.

In the use of certain types of bone wrap material in apparatus accordingto the invention it has been found advantageous to secure the foreroller 67 against rotation, or at least against rotation in acounterclockwise (according to the drawings) direction with a one-wayclutch or the like so that the bone wrap material will not be pulledbackward or counter to the direction of desired advance as the dancerroller drops. Several embodiments of apparatus according to theinvention have been operated very successfully with a fixed nonrotatablerod substituted in place of the fore roller 67. Similarly, and towardsthe same objective, the aft roller 57 may be adapted to unidirectionalrotation in the direction of material 33 advance and it is intended thatsuch alternative structures be included in the invention.

Embodiments other than that described in detail hereinabove andillustrated in the drawings are also feasible and have been constructed.For example an assembly without the supply roll of material, it beingmounted elsewhere off the apparatus as such, comprising side platessmaller in size than those illustrated, the aft roller, the dancerroller, the fore roller, the cutting blade on its blade support and theblade guard as sembly with its counterweight and counterweight momentarm assembly, all mounted between said side plates, has been usedsuccessfully as a form of adapter kit to modify conventional knownequipment into apparatus according to the present invention.

The materials used in fabricating apparatus according to the inventionare conventional, preferably stainless steel, monel metal or the likeselected for ease of maintenance and cleaning as well as durability andstrength and their particular selections are considered well within theken of persons conversant with the art. The dancer roller, of coursemust be of sufficient weight to continually and consistently effect thematerial advance motion during its dropping movement, but not so heavy,on the other hand, as to cause binding or tearing malfunctions in theapparatus, factors readily determined once the bone wrap material to bedispensed and cut is selected. It is possible if desired in givencircumstances to use a relatively lighter than normal dancer roller andto spring load or otherwise bias load it in a downward direction intoits first position.

Various other alternative forms of the invention will, in the light ofthe foregoing description, undoubtedly occur to persons familiar withthe art and indeed to others, such alternative forms being nonethelesswithin the spirit of this invention. It is intended therefore that thisdescription be deemed illustrative only and not construed in anylimiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for cuttably dispensing random length pieces of a rolledfabric product comprising, in combination:

a. A pair of plates disposed in a fixed parallel juxtaposed verticalorientation each with respect to the other separated by a distancegreater then the width of the rolled fabric product,

b. fabric cutting blade means with a blade cutting edge facing upwardmounted transversely of the plates adjacent fore and upper edgesthereof,

0. blade guard means mounted transversely of the plates pivotallymoveable between a first position in which a forward upper horizontaledge of said guard means is at a higher elevation than the blade cuttingedge and a second position in which said horizontal edge is at a lowerelevation then the blade cutting edge,

d. means to maintain said blade guard means in its first position in theabsence of application of downward force on the guard means,

e. first roller means rotatably mounted transversely of the plates in aposition towards the plate edges opposite the fore edges thereof,

f. rod means mounted transversely of the plates with a longitudinal axislying substantially in a horizontal plane with the longitudinal axis ofthe first roller means,

g. second roller means rotatably mounted transversely of the plates in aposition between the first roller means and the rod means, verticallymoveable in mounting means on the plates between a first position inwhich its longitudinal axis is below the longitudinal axes of the firstroller means and the rod means and a second position in which itslongitudinal axis is above the longitudinal axes of the first rollermeans and the rod means and h. means to hold fabric from a rolled fabricproduct supply which is passed between the plates over the first rollermeans, under the second roller means and over the rod means, against anunderside peripheral surface of the second roller means while the secondroller means moves from its second position towards its first position.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in combination a counterweight momentarm fixedly attached to said blade guard means and pivotally moveabletherewith.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said rod means mountedtransversely of the plates is a rotatably mounted roller.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 in combination with roller controlmeans adapted to permit roller rotation only in the direction of fabricadvance from a fabric supply roll.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 in combination with roller controlmeans adapted to permit first roller rotation only in the direction offabric advance from a fabric supply roll.

7. Apparatus for holding a supply of rolled fabric product and cuttablydispensing random length pieces of fabric product therefrom comprising,in combination:

a. A pair of side plates held in fixed vertical juxtaposed parallelrelationship to each other by lateral support means connectedtransversely therebetween separating the side plates by a distancegreater than the width of the rolled fabric product,

b. holding means in the side plates to removably rotatably mount a rollof fabric product transversely of the plates with the longitudinal axisof the roll in a position adjacent the plate edges opposite the foreedges thereof and below the longitudinal axis of the first roller means,

c. fabric cutting blade means with a blade cutting edge facing upwarddetachably fixed to a blade support means removably mountedsubstantially horizontally transversely of the side plates in mountingmeans adjacent fore and upper edges thereof,

d. cutting blade guard means removably mounted between and transverselyof the side plates, pivotally moveable between a first position in whicha forward upper horizontal edge of said guard means is at a higherelevation than the blade cutting edge and a second position in whichsaid horizontal edge is at a lower elevation than the blade cuttingedge,

e. a counterweight and counterweight moment arm assembly fixedlyattached to the cutting blade guard means and pivotally moveabletherewith disposed to maintain said cutting blade guard means in itsfirst position in the absence of application of downward force on saidcutting blade guard means,

f. first roller means removably rotatably mounted transversely of andjoumaled in the side plates in a position towards the side plate edgesopposite the fore edges thereof,

g. rod means mounted transversely of the side plates in holding meansthereon with a longitudinal axis lying substantially in a horizontalplane with the longitudinal axis of the first roller means and h. secondroller means removably rotatably mounted transversely of the side platesin a positionbetween the first roller means and the rod means,vertically moveable in the mounting slot means in the side platesbetween a first position in which its longitudinal axis is below thelongitudinal axes of the first roller means and the rod means andwherein part of its peripheral undersurface is in approximate contactwith an upper surface of the counterweight and counterweight moment armassembly when the cutting blade guard means is in its first position,and a second position in which its longitudinal axis is above thelongitudinal axes of the first roller means and the rod means andwherein part of its peripheral undersurface is in approximate contactwith an upper surface of the counterweight and counterweights moment armassembly when the cutting blade guard means is in its second position,whereby fabrics from the rolled fabric product supply which is passedbetween the plates over the first roller rneans, under the second rollermeans and over the rod means, the cutting blade means and the cuttingblade guard means, raises the second roller means from its firstposition towards its second position when pulled taut, depresses thecutting blade guard means from its first position towards its secondposition, contacts at its underside the cutting edge of the cuttingblade means and is severed when pulled downwardly after being pulledtaut, and is held between said peripheral under surface of the secondroller means and said upper surface of the counterweight andcounterweight moment arm assembly, advanced from its supply as thesecond roller means descends from its second position towards its firstposition and is urged upward at its severed edge by the cutting bladeguard means moving pivotably from its second position towards and intoits first position.

1. Apparatus for cuttably dispensing random length pieces of a rolledfabric product comprising, in combination: a. A pair of plates disposedin a fixed parallel juxtaposed vertical orientation each with respect tothe other separated by a distance greater then the width of the rolledfabric product, b. fabric cutting blade means with a blade cutting edgefacing upward mounted transversely of the plates adjacent fore and upperedges thereof, c. blade guard means mounted transversely of the platespivotally moveable between a first position in which a forward upperhorizontal edge of said guard means is at a higher elevation than theblade cutting edge and a second position in which said horizontal edgeis at a lower elevation then the blade cutting edge, d. means tomaintain said blade guard means in its first position in the absence ofapplication of downward force on the guard means, e. first roller meansrotatably mounted transversely of the plates in a position towards theplate edges opposite the fore edges thereof, f. rod means mountedtransversely of the plates with a longitudinal axis lying substantiallyin a horizontal plane with the longitudinal axis of the first rollermeans, g. second roller means rotatably mounted transversely of theplates in a position between the first roller means and the rod means,vertically moveable in mounting means on the plates between a firstposition in which its longitudinal axis is below the longitudinal axesof the first roller means and the rod means and a second position inwhich its longitudinal axis is above the longitudinal axes of the firstroller means and the rod means and h. means to hold fabric from a rolledfabric product supply which is passed between the plates over the firstroller means, under the second roller means and over the rod means,against an underside peripheral surface of the second roller means whilethe second roller means moves from its second position towards its firstposition.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in combination with holdingmeans to rotatably mount a roll of fabric product transversely of theplates with the longitudinal axis of the roll in a position adjacent theplate edges opposite the fore edges thereof and below the longitudinalaxis of the first roller means.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 1wherein the means to maintain the blade guard means in its firstposition and the means to hold the fabric against an undersideperipheral surface of the second roller means while the second rollermeans moves from its second position towards its first positioncomprises a counterweight and a counterweight moment arm fixedlyattached to said blade guard means and pivotally moveable therewith. 4.Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said rod means mountedtransversely of the plates is a rotatably mounted roller.
 5. Apparatusaccording to claim 4 in combination with roller control means adapted topermit roller rotation only in the direction of fabric advance from afabric supply roll.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 1 in combinationwith roller control means adapted to permit first roller rotation onlyin the direction of fabric advance from a fabric supply roll. 7.Apparatus for holding a supply of rolled fabric product and cuttablydispensing random length pieces of fabric product therefrom comprising,in combination: a. A pair of side plates held in fixed verticaljuxtaposed parallel relationship to each other by lateral support meansconnected transversely therebetween separating the side plates by adistance greater than the width of the rolled fabric product, b. holdingmeans in the side plates to removably rotatably mount a roll of fabricproduct transversely of the plates with the longitudinal axis of theroll in a position adjacent the plate edges opposite the fore edgesthereof and below the longitudinal axis of the first roller means, c.fabric cutting blade means with a blade cutting edge facing upwarddetachably fixed to a blade support means removably mountedsubstantially horizontally transversely of the side plates in mountingmeans adjacent fore and upper edges thereof, d. cutting blade guardmeans removably mounted between and transversely of the side plates,pivotally moveable between a first position in which a forward upperhorizontal edge of said guard means is at a higher elevation than theblade cutting edge and a second position in which said horizontal edgeis at a lower elevation than the blade cutting edge, e. a counterweightand counterweight moment arm assembly fixedly attached to the cuttingblade guard means and pivotally moveable therewith disposed to maintainsaid cutting blade guard means in its first position in the absence ofapplication of downward force on said cutting blade guard means, f.first roller means removably rotatably mounted transversely of andjournaled in the side plates in a position towards the side plate edgesopposite the fore edges thereof, g. rod means mounted transversely ofthe side plates in holding means thereon with a longitudinal axis lyingsubstantially in a horizontal plane with the longitudinal axis of thefirst roller means and h. second roller means removably rotatablymounted transversely of the side plates in a position between the firstroller means and the rod means, vertically moveable in the mounting slotmeans in the side plates between a first position in which itslongitudinal axis is below the longitudinal axes of the first rollermeans and the rod means and wherein part of its peripheral undersurfaceis in approximate contact with an upper surface of the counterweight andcounterweight moment arm assembly when the cutting blade guard means isin its first position, and a second position in which its longitudinalaxis is above the longitudinal axes of the first roller means and therod means and wherein part of its peripheral undersurface is inapproximate contact with an upper surface of the counterweight andcounterweights moment arm assembly when the cutting blade guard means isin its second position, whereby fabrics from the rolled fabric productsupply which is passed between the plates over the first roller means,Under the second roller means and over the rod means, the cutting blademeans and the cutting blade guard means, raises the second roller meansfrom its first position towards its second position when pulled taut,depresses the cutting blade guard means from its first position towardsits second position, contacts at its underside the cutting edge of thecutting blade means and is severed when pulled downwardly after beingpulled taut, and is held between said peripheral undersurface of thesecond roller means and said upper surface of the counterweight andcounterweight moment arm assembly, advanced from its supply as thesecond roller means descends from its second position towards its firstposition and is urged upward at its severed edge by the cutting bladeguard means moving pivotably from its second position towards and intoits first position.